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Apley Estate herd wins first prize (31st January 2017)

The Pennington family are farming tenants on the Apley Estate, living live less than 1 mile from Apley Farm Shop. They supply us with beef from their herd of British White Cattle. Oldington Alderney, a cow in their herd, won the National Junior Championships at the British White Cattle Society national show at the Royal Three Counties Show 2016 which takes place annually in June in Malvern, Worcestershire.

Oldington Teasel won Senior Heifer of the Year announced at the British White Cattle AGM in October.

Harry Pennington also won 3rd prize with Oldington Alderney in the Junior Heifer of the Year, also announced at the society’s AGM in October.

On top of all those prizes, their Oldington herd also won the Randolph Turpin trophy for the Best National Overall Herd, awarded by the British White Cattle Society.

Paul Pennington, owner & manager of the Oldington herd, continued “The cattle are judged on conformation, which can be improved by breeders being selective over which bull breeds with which cows. The competition was stiff this year – we compete with 50 herds around the country.“

Mrs Catherine Pennington explained “The cows & bulls accrue points at shows attended throughout the year. These points are calculated every October at the AGM of the British White Cattle Society & the winner is the cow or bull which accrues the most points. There are prizes for cow of the year, bull of the year, senior heifers & junior heifers.“

Bob Wassell, Apley Butcher, added “This beef has been very well received by our customers who appreciate the natural fat coverage on the beef & the fat marbling, which gives the taste. It’s traditionally dry hung for 28 days. This ‘dry mature’ process makes the meat more flavoursome & tender.”

Apley Estate owner, Lord Hamilton concluded “By supplying this quality beef, customers are getting beef with nearly zero food miles – they can see the cattle grazing as they approach Apley Farm Shop. That’s about as close as you can get it anywhere these days. When next at the farm shop, remember to pick up a beef & horseradish pie, made using this beef from the British White Cattle herd.”